The Dominance Of The Pat Bowlen Era, Team By Team

So I decided to take a quickish break on this Saturday, and I investigated the win-loss records of the NFL from 1984 to present.  We all know the well-circulated stat that the Broncos under Pat Bowlen have more Super Bowl appearance (7) than losing seasons (5).  But after churning out the results, I am quite proud to discover that since 1984, the Broncos have the best winning percentage (.612) in the league, with a win-loss record of 334-212-1.  Only the Patriots (.606) and 49ers (.605) are super close, followed by the Steelers (.588) and Packers (.573).  No other teams are above .560.

When you break the records down head-to-head, another proud statistic emerges: since 1984, only 6 of the other 31 teams have a winning record against the Broncos. And with this, I will offer a pop quiz for this weekend: name those six teams.  Try your best not to cheat, or if you do, try not to share the results in the comments.  Either way, the answer may surprise you a bit.  Sometime later this weekend, I’ll create a fold to this post that will include the tables of these records below.

UPDATE: (8:15 PM MT) After a few hints, orangeandblueaussie got the six teams:

  • Dolphins (it took Tebow magic to finally beat them in Miami for the first time)
  • Jaguars (The Broncos do terribly in the state of Florida)
  • Rams (longest drought the Broncos have against any team, dating back to 2002)
  • Giants (Amani Toomer was a Bronco-killer in his career)
  • Ravens (too many bad memories to comment further)
  • Colts (it was so easy to hate Peyton Manning out of jealously in the previous decade).

The tables I promised are beyond the fold.

Win-Loss Records Head-To-Head
Team W L T Pct. Team W L T Pct.
DEN 334 212 1 0.612
NE 336 218 0 0.606 CLE 16 2 0 0.889
SF 332 216 2 0.605 ARI 7 1 0 0.875
PIT 321 225 1 0.588 CIN 13 3 0 0.813
GB 312 232 2 0.573 CAR 4 1 0 0.8
NYG 298 241 1 0.553 ATL 7 2 0 0.778
BAL 188 154 1 0.55 DAL 6 2 0 0.75
PHI 290 245 4 0.542 NO 5 2 0 0.714
IND 286 255 0 0.529 NE 20 9 0 0.69
MIA 281 251 0 0.528 TEN 8 4 0 0.667
CHI 280 252 0 0.526 TB 4 2 0 0.667
DAL 280 255 0 0.523 PIT 13 7 0 0.65
SEA 280 257 0 0.521 SD 42 23 0 0.646
MIN 278 257 1 0.52 NYJ 9 5 0 0.643
NO 267 260 0 0.507 SEA 26 15 0 0.634
KC 266 260 2 0.506 DET 5 3 0 0.625
CAR 175 176 1 0.499 KC 40 25 0 0.615
TEN 261 271 0 0.491 WAS 6 4 0 0.6
WAS 259 272 1 0.488 HOU 3 2 0 0.6
BUF 255 277 0 0.479 OAK 38 27 0 0.585
SD 251 276 0 0.476 CHI 5 4 0 0.556
NYJ 246 282 1 0.466 MIN 6 5 0 0.545
JAX 157 190 0 0.452 BUF 8 7 0 0.533
OAK 235 290 0 0.448 SF 5 5 0 0.5
ATL 233 291 2 0.445 GB 5 5 1 0.5
LA 232 296 1 0.44 PHI 4 4 0 0.5
CIN 228 293 2 0.438 BAL 6 7 0 0.462
HOU 99 130 0 0.432 JAX 5 6 0 0.455
ARI 215 306 1 0.413 NYG 4 5 0 0.444
TB 208 314 0 0.398 IND 7 12 0 0.368
CLE 184 289 1 0.389 MIA 4 7 0 0.364
DET 198 321 1 0.382 LA 3 6 0 0.333